Five years since wildfires destroyed nearly half the Town of Slave Lake, causing more than $700 million in damage, local fire crews are more prepared if a spark and a breeze pose a potential disaster.

“Anything can happen when you’re on a fire. You can have a wind coming this way and all of a sudden have a wind coming this way, pushing the fire toward you,” said Kevin Willier, who has fought fires the past 28 years.

Willier said this year promises to be tough.

“It’s going to be hectic. I was up in High Level for five years. One year, the fires were just popping up left and right. That’s what they’re expecting this year.”

The Slave Lake crew, of which Willier is a member, took part in boot camp training from April 26-28, learning about wildfire behaviour and investigation, heavy equipment and GPS use, wilderness survival and helicopter training.

They’re going to need it. Dry conditions meant the fire season this year started about a month earlier than usual.

“We’ve seen in the Slave Lake area 20 fires and over just about 47 hectares burned; that’s very unusual for the month of April,” said Leah Lovequist, information co-ordinator for the Slave Lake Forest Area with Alberta Agriculture and Forestry.

Lovequist said the $20 million put into fire management since the 2011 Slave Lake fires has increased the number of 20-person crews in the province from five to eight and has convinced communities to do their own work to protect themselves.

It’s going to be hectic. I was up in High Level for five years. One year, the fires were just popping up left and right. That’s what they’re expecting this year. — Kevin Willier

Marten Beach, about 30 kilometres from Slave Lake, has been nationally recognized by FireSmart Canada, which educates people how to prevent wildfires. Residents of the community cleared the sides of houses of vegetation, and dry and dead brush was collected and hauled out of the community.

Ashton Ottenbreit, an 18-year-old rookie on the Slave Lake crew and Slave Lake resident, remembers packing up his belongings and fleeing the area in 2011 with his family.

“Our house was OK; some of our relatives less so,” Ottenbreit said.

He has fought five fires this year. It was the first year he was eligible to join a fire crew. A person has to be 18 or older.

“I didn’t know what to expect going into it because everyone tells me they’re all different,” he said. “I was pretty nervous flying in the helicopter and seeing … the smoke just engulfing the helicopter. I’m like ‘OK, this is where it’s real now.’ ”

He remains upbeat in part because of the confidence he has in his leaders and their down-to-earth attitudes.

“I didn’t expect my crew members to be so normal,” he said, laughing. “I mean, who wants to go and wander off into the bush for six months, leave everyone behind and just do this? But they’re all great.”

The crew leader, Chris Carew, is the epitome of that calm nature. A fire ranger for nine years, he said the work can be tough.

“It’s long hours, very strenuous work, for sure. We concentrate on safety as a priority,” Carew said.

He said crews are methodical, dousing the tail of a fire and slowly moving around it toward the head, tackling hot spots after tankers have dropped water from above.

“It’s the adrenalin rush,” he said. “It’s also a very physical job and so it’s good exercise.”

Firefighters learn to make cordage from wilderness survival trainer Kelly Harlton during a bootcamp held near Slave Lake on Wednesday, April 27, 2016 .Ian Kucerak /
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Fighting fire with fire

Fire crews bring overnight bags, packed with the necessities to keep them going for two days. But this year they also got a crash course in survival from Kelly Harlton, a bush survival expert, in case they’re forced to stay longer in the wild.

“I’ve been studying this stuff for over 30 years, just sort of as a pastime passion of mine,” said Harlton, who teaches weeklong courses through a school called Karamat Wilderness Ways.

In the condensed course, he taught crew members a handful of useful techniques, including how to build a backpack out of sticks and cord — also known as a Roycroft pack — how to use a simple piece of plastic sheet to carry water, how to build a ladder out of rope and fallen trees, and how to turn those same two trees and rope into a winch that would allow two people to drag a truck.

“Making things from nothing, that’s part of the allure, that’s what blows my hair back is just doing lots with little,” said Harlton, adding survival comes down to simple tools and even simpler things, like finding water and keeping warm.

“All the rules and regulations in the world, your real protection is up there,” he said, pointing to his head.

One of the mainstays taught to the firefighters was how to build a fire without matches.

“We put a lot of emphasis on fire because in all conditions, wet and cold, if you’re carrying a reliable system to start fire and you’ve mastered fire, then you can stay warm,” he said.

Harlton’s five Cs of survival

• Container — “One of the issues we have all the time is purifying water and it’s one of the hard things without a certain skill set,” Harlton said. “There’s lots of ways to build containers, but to carry one you’re way further ahead.”

• Cover — This can mean larger things like tents or shelters, but can come down to simple clothing to protect from the elements.

• Combustion — A means with which to start a fire.

How to make a fire

• Find some kind of tinder — it can be dried grass, bark or hanging moss known as “old man’s beard” — and best if it’s worked into a ball so there are more smaller pieces. Pro tip: Dry grass feels warm if put against your cheek. If it’s cold (wet), it can be dried by putting it between layers of clothing like a T-shirt and sweater.

• Find a piece of carbon-based steel — sources can be old hacksaw blades, non-stainless steel pocket knives or a metal file — and a rock that’s harder than the steel.

• Strike the rock with quick, glancing blows to cause sparks.

• A carbonized material, like burnt paper, cloth or bark, can help to catch the spark.

• Put the smouldering material into the tinder and wrap the tinder around it.

• Hold the tinder loosely and either blow air into it or swing it around to give it air.

Fire prevention tips

Campfires must be doused with water, then checked to make certain nothing is smouldering underground. ATVs should also be cleared of debris around mufflers and engines where dry grass and leaves can catch a spark.

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